What is the Cloud?
The Cloud is a term given to a space that holds information and software so that your hardware doesn’t have to take up space holding it.
How Does this Benefit Businesses?
Before the advent of the Cloud, businesses that depended on computing as a major part of their business needed not only hardware for their employees, but software as well. This meant that whenever a new employee was hired, he or she would have to be outfitted with new software and a software license in order to run it. A cloud allows all of the business’s employees to access the software right away, and there is no need for it to be downloaded to their computers. Businesses that use clouds don’t need to worry about constantly purchasing additional software, software licenses or storage space. All that is needed on the user’s end is the interface software of the cloud, which could simply be the use of the Internet.
What are the Drawbacks?
First of all, it’s not quite as secure as having all the information locked up in your building. It’s out there, even if no one has access to it other than your company. Then there are the outages that have happened to several companies already. If a cloud blacks out, all of your information is lost. They are developing ways around such problems; however, because cloud computing is in its infancy, not everything has been sorted out.
What is VoIP?
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a method in which calls are made and transmitted over the Internet, thereby bypassing the phone companies. The danger of being completely dependent on the cloud is that you lose person-to-person communication between your business and clients. VoIP makes it easy to communicate information from one person to another. It’s a better, more professional way to communicate. A VoIP test must be done to ensure the connection’s quality. It will tell you if you have the necessary bandwidth and signal strength to perform VoIP calls.
There are many benefits to using cloud computing, from data storage to software usage, and communication can be one of them if you have the required Internet connection VoIP systems are revolutionizing the way businesses can communicate, so get a VoIP test today.
Image is licensed under CC Attribution
Patrick Whalen is a writer who specializes in SEO. He has written for numerous web sites. Follow him at @2patwhalen.
,